Summer Tours Explore California’s Plentiful Mountain Snowpack and a Lurking Threat of Drought Along the Coast
Headwaters Tour June 27-28 and Edge of Drought Tour Aug. 27-29 Offer a Firsthand View of Diverse California Water Issues
Get a firsthand view of California’s
diverse water resource issues with two of our summer tours — to
the Sierra Nevada headwaters that were blessed this winter with a
plentiful snowpack, and a Southern California coastal region
chronically prone to drought.
On tap this June is a new route for our Headwaters Tour as we head into the Sierra Nevada mountains, where 60% of California’s developed water supply originates. With the health of our Sierra forests suffering from ecosystem degradation, drought, wildfires and widespread tree mortality, we’ll examine water issues that happen upstream but have dramatic impacts downstream and throughout the state. Among our stops is a pilot project for thinning the forest in the Yuba River watershed.
On our August Edge of Drought Tour, we’re venturing into the Santa Barbara region, an area particularly prone to drought, wildfires and mudslides. With limited local surface and groundwater supplies, the region’s hydrologic recovery often has lagged behind much of the rest of the state despite the recent lifting of a drought emergency declaration following this winter’s storms.
Dates and planned stops on our summer tours:
Bay-Delta Tour: June 5 to 7
A few spots remain for this popular
3-day, 2-night
tour that takes participants to the heart of California
water policy – the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and San Francisco
Bay. Stops include Clifton Court Forebay and the federal
pumping plant, a Delta farm tour, Suisun Marsh, and a ferry ride
across San Francisco Bay to the Bay Model in
Sausalito. Time is running out and seats are limited, so
register soon!
Headwaters Tour: June 27 to 28
NEW ROUTE!
This 2-day, 1-night
tour starts and ends in the Sacramento region with
planned stops at the Yuba and American rivers, Tahoe and Eldorado
national forests, the King Fire burn site, UC Berkeley’s Blodgett
Forest Research Station, Blue Forest Conservation pilot project
site, New Bullards Bar Reservoir, meadow and river restoration
sites and Lake Tahoe.
Register here.
Edge of Drought Tour: August 27 to 29
NEW TOUR!
This two-and-a-half-day
tour starts and ends in Burbank with planned stops at
Lake Cachuma, Freeman Diversion Dam, an atmospheric river
observatory, Twitchell Reservoir, a desalination plant, San
Simeon State Park, and more.
Register here.
Contact Programs Manager Nick Gray via email or at 916-444-6240 with any questions.